.png)
Issue 6 January 2023
This issue catch Ms. Natalie Rodriguez and the Natalie Rodrigues Design Studio - a Texas based success story in mobility design
Jetology BD700. Bombardier Global 7500 at Linz
As circulation director at JetCabin Freshbook Magazine, I couldn't be prouder to announce the first of several key circulation expansions into other key regions around the world. As of today, our magazine will be distributed from Mumbai to Dubai and all key business locales in between and across Asia.. Over the years AeroChamp's team has forged a strong relationship with OEMs, distributors, and independent repair centers to offer hard-to-find parts and deliver maintenance cost optimization to customers in more than 30 countries. Interacting with their team members, immediately makes you aware of their deep understanding of the industry and in particular, the specific needs of business aviation customers.
As a key aviation services brand in both regions, some may already be familiar with AeroChamp and if you're not, this is a great opportunity to get to know them and their Founder / CEO, Dr. Praveen Srivastava. AeroChamp has enjoyed a burgeoning reputation in these two important markets over the last decade and is rapidly becoming a key service provider in both regions. Our partnership is a good marriage, offering expanded distribution for JCF and an opportunity for AeroChamp to grow their own brand recognition in the Americas and Europe, where the bulk of our current subscribers are based. We invite you to learn more about Dr. Praveen Srivastava and AeroChamp here: https://www.aerochamp.net/
See the expanded full feature article in this issue.
- Dean Malcolm / Circulation Director
We Just Expanded Our Circulation, Now Covering a Wide Interior's Audience Across India, The Middle East & The Asia Pacific
F E A T U R E S
1 Minimalism - Dominating the Stage in Aviation Interiors
7 YASAVA - A Seating Group that Got the Memo.
11 Sky Cinema - Airborne DOLBY Atmos (Republished by popular demand)
Issue 4 September 2022
JetCabin Freshbook 2022 . all rights reserved
f r e s h b o o k . a e r o
Publisher
Editor
Editorial
Advertising
Directory Listings
RWR Designs GP LLC - Texas U.S.A.
Rick W. Roseman
directorylistings@freshbook.aero
Freshbook Magazine is a division of JetCabin Freshbook (freshbook.aero), and is an all digital publication, distributed globally to subscribers only. The subscription rate for any / all legitimate individuals or companies directly involved in the interiors sector of business or commercial aviation, is: $0 (no cost).
Advertising rates are available via our media pack.
Visit our Advertising page here.
JetCabin Freshbook
3206 La Paz Lane
Santa Fe, NM 87507 (u.s.a.)
If you change jobs or otherwise will no longer have a valid subscription email, please notify:
circulation@freshbook.aero
D E P A R T M E N T S
YASAVA Seating Group - a look at the future
Words from the Editor
Remember, Remember. . . the Fifth of November!. The infamous beginnings of a nursery rhyme about the equally infamous Gunpowder Plot on 5 November in 1605 when Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators attempted and failed to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Every year on the 5th of Nov is Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire (one in the same).
But despite the fairy tale, make no mistake, Fawkes was a real figure. He fought for Catholic Spain in the Eighty Years' War against Protestant Dutch reformers in the Low Countries. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England without success. He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England. Wintour introduced him to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. It sounded like a reasonable idea to Fawkes, so together the plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords. Fawkes was summarily placed in charge of their gunpowder stockpiles. The authorities were tipped by an anonymous letter to search Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, where they eventually found Fawkes guarding the explosives. He was questioned and tortured over the next few days and confessed to wanting to blow up the House of Lords.
But here's the rub. Immediately before his execution on 31 January, Fawkes fell from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of being hanged, drawn and quartered. His rebellious leanings and fateful demise brought him fame both as a nursery rhyme and an annual fiery reenactment. Every 5 November since 1605, his effigy is burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by fireworks.
What does all this have to do with aviation interiors? Nothing of course, but it's a reminder to us all (on this year in particular) how quickly our actions, both as individuals and governments can spiral consequences that threaten peace and prosperity. Do we really need another 5th of November, or D-Day, or February 24th, or January 6th to remember? Do we need to litter our calendars with yet more dates that remind us of yet more violent uprising or war?
A decade or so ago, visiting friends in the UK, I took part in Bonfire - hordes encircling the giant inferno, laughter and glasses of beer, watching embers spiral up in the blackness. Not once did I think of Fawkes or his conspirators - only that my daughters and my friends stood next to me, and that, unlike scores of others scattered around the world, we would sleep without fear of rockets, or bombs or tyranny.
Enough.
Richard Roseman - Co-founder / Editor
VISION
We’re Changing the Way you think about Aviation Magazines
No flip viewers...no thumbing pages, no zooming to read text or adjusting scale to see images. Just smooth scrollable content, smartly written feature articles, full-width ads from the top companies in the world. Plus exciting departments that bring the FRESHEST in new rollouts and present the latest trends. Plus you'll always find glimpses of the near-term future of cabin design and products. And best of all, it's all interactive with video, live links and instant access to the people and extended content you're interested in.
%20copy%207.png)
Out of Sight...Always in Reach.
Article by: Rick Roseman
Conundrum: How does one go about getting rid of an eyesore?
Answer: Make it invisible.
It’s a catchy tagline, right? Is it designed to compel you into reading the article? Yes…but in this case, it’s way more than a hookline. There is a small company in the Netherlands that is, in the very truest sense of the word, making things disappear. Let’s say you are one of the top aviation designers in the world – and congratulations if you are. As a designer myself, I know at least one commonality we all share, and that is that there are things that support our designs and things that do not! For the sake of the article, let’s call these detractors. Detractors come in many forms but the trait they all share is that they are necessary evils, thing we must deal with but given the option,
certainly wouldn’t.
One of the premier examples of this, are large, wall mounted TV monitors. They may have been quite the accoutrement we all wanted to show off in the 80’s, but today, they’re glaring eyesores - massive black holes that take a carving knife to aesthetics. From almost anyone’s perspective these days, unless you happen to be watching a movie or sporting event, you simply don’t want to see them. Yes, of course, we have the age-old servo operated lifts that can hide them beneath a cabinet or sideledge, but they’re slow, they’re noisy and they consume huge amounts of otherwise usable space.
So, what then? Well as the answer to my little conundrum above suggests, you simply make them disappear. And I mean literally.
Today I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mr. Jeroen van den Hurk, CEO and Managing Director of VBHI, a technology company in the Netherlands. And I will tell you before we get started, it was one of the most exciting interviews I’ve conducted since the inception of our magazine. Why? Because it’s groundbreaking, wildly impressive and heralds a new era in the way we think about the blending of technology and aesthetics.
Educated at university as an electronics engineer, Mr. Van den Hurk also attended yet another institution of higher learning (to which he humorously refers), at Phillips Electronics –
the globally recognized Dutch company we’re all familiar with. “If you’re in tech in this part of the world,” he explains, “it’s almost a rite of passage, the place where you get your real education.” And so he did, eventually leaving and working for several other companies, then heading a few more at the CEO or Managing Director level. But only when he took the position of Managing Director with VBH did the opportunities for truly remarkable advancements really begin.
And like many such supplier companies in VIP private aviation, VBHI cut its teeth on yachts, not just any yachts mind you, but superyachts – a handle that in prior decades belonged to boats in the 35-50 meter range, but now is defined by those at 60 meters and beyond. And to give you an idea of their experience in such yachts, they have installed their technology on more than 300 of them. Now to be fair, it should be pointed out that The Netherlands is yacht building territory, with several of the world’s most prestigious yards within its borders – and several more next door, in Germany. But nonetheless, superyachts are all mammoth in scale and very complex by nature. More importantly, superyachts belong to the very same customers that own high-end business jets and VVIP aircraft. So, generally speaking, what is desirous on yachts to their owners, will soon be on aircraft, or vice-versa. With that in mind, let’s jump to the 2022 Monaco Yacht Show. At this year’s show they rolled out their new “Invisible” technology and to say it was well received, is to put it mildly.
Kestrel Aviation Management - B-787 Main Cabin
“It’s what we call an intelligent solution,” says Mr. Van den Hurk. “and it’s taken years of exhaustive trial and error to develop and perfect.”
But the philosophy behind the movement is more germane to our conversation. Here’s a few words one writer used in describing minimalism: “Form, function, and focus is the prayer and anthem for a simple design. The visuals stay focused and uncluttered.” Many designers today aspire to designs that respect and embody these principals because by resisting the temptation of clutter and superfluous detail and focusing only on form and function – you wind up with something truly beautiful in a way that’s hard to describe; an aesthetic that truly calms the mind and invites the human psyche to take a breath.
The basic principles of minimalism and jet aircraft are compatible. There’s certainly nothing superfluous or fussy about the exterior of an aircraft, right? The design is completely and totally bound by function - serving one end only; flight. Everything about a modern jet’s exterior form is utilitarian because it travels through the air – yet it is beautiful to look at; sleek, simple, elegant.
An aircraft’s interior, however, is not dictated be aerodynamic form. It can be anything the owner or designer wish it to be. Design trends can move freely back and forth between styles of the day. But will they? Nobody ever knows what the future will bring, but as I’ve discussed here, there are very real and tangible reasons why these two simplistic styles of design have overtaken more traditional themes in the earlier days of private aviation. In simple terms, simplicity rules. It is uniquely compatible and desirable within the passenger cabin of an aircraft.
Aviation designers have long taken ques from their high-end automotive design counterparts. And we only need to look at the cars we drive to see why. Today’s upper market car interiors are in many cases, works of art; simplistic forms and clean elegant, ergonomic design that beckon the senses. This same minimalist blending of form and function is the prevailing direction in today’s top-end aviation interiors as well; and It’s not likely that will ever go in the other direction. Cars, jets, yachts. They’re all extremely complex machines with thousands of moving parts, electronics and sophisticated engineering.
But as humans, when we slip into them, we neither want to see the moving parts or the clutter and complexities of our daily lives.
Less is more. . . simple soothes.
.png)
BBJ Max Concept by: Cheryl Pelly Design
"The top DESIGN studios around the world are absolutely the ones that inform the industry and set the new trends."
Jetzign is where we highlight the very latest from the top designers and studios. Whether it be the iconic independents or the great design departments within the world's top completion centers, this is where you will find their latest works - and always with an emphasis on the near-term future of cabin design.
SkyYacht ONE / courtesy: Sotto Studios
%20copy.png)
Interview & article by: Richard W. Roseman
It isn't often you get a chance to sit down with three senior officers in a company like ALTO. Maybe it was the wind down to the holidays or just dumb luck, but in this case I was able to visit with all three of ALTO's senior execs - and since a single interviewee always tends to deliver from the unique perspective of their title - this was a great opportunity to get the full story on this great cabin supplier group.
We decided to do this one Q&A style and then simply let the most appropriate officer weigh in. Our three interviewees for the article are: Mr. Don Hamilton - President, Mr. Steve Scarlata - VP Engineering / R&D, and Ms. Cristina Scarlata - Senior Director of Strategic Marketing. So let's jump in. . .
Can we start by asking you to tell us when ALTO was founded, what initial products you offered at the time - and the evolution that has brought you to where you are today?
Mr. Don Hamilton, President, ALTO Aviation (DH)
DH: ALTO was founded in 1997 to bring high-end audio to aviation and transform the industry's audio performance expectations. Before ALTO, I was part of a small team at Bose that designed the first true high-performance audio system to be installed at the OEM level in the Gulfstream GIV.
When we started ALTO, Bose contracted us to take over their engineering and manufacturing of that system. We earned the trust of the Gulfstream team that we worked with, and when Bose exited the cabin systems area, Gulfstream brought ALTO on and helped us become a world-class supplier.
We have had cabin audio product standard on every Gulfstream aircraft for over 20 years and are forever grateful for the opportunity they provided. We know that trust means everything in this industry, so when we introduced a complete audio system solution to the industry, in addition to superior product performance, we had industry experience and a proven product with substantiating field data to build confidence with our customers.
Our systems continue to set new audio performance standards, and we ensure that all new products' offerings live up to the standards we set for ourselves and the reputation we have worked hard to build since we started.
Our first 25 years have been truly exciting for us. With our products flying on well over 5,000 aircraft, we look forward to building on that in the future. Without our customers, industry partners, and supply chain partners, we wouldn't be where we are. We appreciate each one of them and are especially grateful to our amazing ALTO team that makes it all happen.
The one thing that has always strikes me when on visiting your site from time to time, is the seemingly always growing roster of new products or significant upgrades to existing ones. Is this merely a function of being a CMS supplier and the fact that technology is constantly changing, or has ALTO always sort of focused on new innovations and aggressively staying ahead of the curve?
Mr. Steve Scarlata, Vice President Engineering and R&D
SS: It's a combination of all those reasons. Still, the main one is that we actively listen to our customers and always engineer to bring products that our customers really need and add value to their aircraft while enhancing the passengers' experience. Customer interaction at all levels drives what our next products will be. Our sales team works closely with all our customers to see what their customers are looking for. Our engineering division teams up with our customers on solving technical challenges they see at the design level or implementation.
The growing roster of new products and upgrades comes from that excellent cooperation and partnership. In addition to that cooperation with our customers, our R&D team is constantly looking at new technologies and product ideas with the evolution and future of aviation in mind. Alto R&D investment supports our strong commitment to continuing to lead the way and being the industry reference for aviation in our area of expertise. Some will make its way into our products, and some will not, the coolest new technology won't become a product if it doesn't support our customers' needs.
Would you consider yourselves more of an In-Flight Entertainment provider or a Cabin Management Systems group? Can you elaborate on this please – and perhaps explain if one led into the other for ALTO?
DH: I would say we do not consider ourselves a certain type of product provider. Our first offering to the aviation industry was a high-end audio system designed specifically for aircraft. Audio has always been a passion for ALTO, and when we started, the industry had very low expectations of what sound quality could be achieved in an aircraft. We worked very hard for many years to build trust with our customers and show the industry that they should expect nothing but the best sound quality and product quality from us.
As time passed, our customers started asking us to develop certain types of products, which led to our move into the CMS area and continues to guide us into the future. As we look forward, I consider us a passenger experience provider. Our new MySound™ product focuses on the individual passenger rather than the aircraft. We are working on many exciting new projects focused on the experience and wellness of the passenger.
Your new "Seat-Centric" MySound™ product sounds fascinating and seems to be something of a true innovation in jet cabin audio systems. Can you please tell us about this new system and how it came about – as well as what it means for the passenger?
SS: ALTO's goal for cabin audio is to provide every passenger with a customized, unrivaled audio experience in every seat, and we have been delivering on this promise for many years. When flights are taken with only one or two passengers, we can transform the cabin from great stereo sound for all seats to personalized, immersive surround sound for the VIP seating. This new proprietary technology allows us to harness the power of every loudspeaker in the cabin and focus this sound on just one or two seats; this brings a whole new level of passenger-centric audio experience, and the listener is transported into a 3D acoustic space with no borders and perfect immersive sound. It is quite remarkable.
This proprietary seat-centric technology allows us full control over every speaker in the cabin in real-time and the ability to change the system based on what the passengers desire. Our proprietary tuning software and methods ensure that every use case for the individual aircraft will provide the passengers with the ultimate audio experience no matter how they are using the system.
.png)
Nobody cares for ugly, cumbersome, mechanical appendages all over their $60 million aircraft cabin. Thankfully one company has filled the gap, giving us all the necessary functionality in graceful, aesthetically pleasing
reimagined designs. JCF takes a closer look at what Ingenio Aerospace is bringing to the table, both for owners
and the designers they employ.
By: Melissa Tokoriyama / special contributor
INGENIO™ has only been around for a decade or so but in that time has made quite a footprint in interior jet cabins, both commercial and private. They have dedicated themselves to enhancing the in-flight experience for customers by designing, engineering and building products for use in cabins & cockpits - but not just products, products that meet and exceed all the functionalty required by passengers and cockpit crews, but with an unsurpassed level of visual appeal. They have removed the "eye sore" factor and in fact are winning awards.
The company is blending innovation, creativity and the latest technologies into the products they offer - delivering customers a unique balance of form, function and elegance. Their dedicated focus is on cutting edge, flexible and customized design with innovative engineering and manufacturing.
In their short history INGENIO™ has developed 71 products over just 6 years, for corporate, commercial, and military applications.
Based in Montreal, Canada, INGENIO™ since 2013, they boast an impressive list of customers including Bombardier (out their back dor), Collins Aerospace, Duncan Aviation, Embraer, Jetms, Sikorsky, Execujet, Comlux and Dassault Falcon, to name a few.
Marking their success in 2021 was a coveted RedDot award. Ingenio submitted two winning products to the Red Dot Design Awards: The Ingenio Cabin Tablet Arm and The Ingenio Table Tablet Holder. Both won acclaim from a panel of esteemed and impartial judges.
The Ingenio Table Tablet Holder was designed specifically for Embraer's Phenom 300 business jet. This smartphone and tablet holder allows passengers to transform their seat into an entertainment or work area. It is made of machined aluminium and attaches to retractable tables without damaging the surface. The holder can accommodate tablets and smartphones of any size, as they are simply inserted into the recess. It is stowed away with a protective cover in the side ledge compartments. The Red Dot Jury stated: “The tablet holder's construction is amazingly simple, and its minimalist design approach fits perfectly into Phenom 300 interiors.”
Ingenio president and CEO James Bell concludes: “We are proud to have been recognised by Red Dot, one of the world's most prestigious design awards. By celebrating innovation, integrity and aesthetics, Red Dot highlights the best designs across a multitude of disciplines. Always attentive to our clients' needs and preferences, from aircraft manufacturers to individual passengers, we enrich the in-flight experience by delivering products that facilitate access to electronic devices. Earning Red Dot Design Awards is a much-appreciated recognition of our team's vision and hard work.”
Let your designs take flight. Opening Q1 on the Spirit of St. Louis airport.
%20copy.png)
%20copy%202.png)
Article by: Richard Roseman
The incredibly sumptuous world of...
Pillows Galore and More!
A Seamingly endless playground of Airborne Poofiness.
They’re crushed and squeezed. They’re fondled and flipped. They’re held and twirled, napped on and tossed about. They’re lovely and lively and patterned and poofy! They’re edge-stitched and gathered and seamed and notched. But most of all, they are the wonderful indispensable accoutrements to every aircraft cabin. We may take them for granted but think for a moment…what would a finished, delivered interior be without those casual, inviting, altogether glorious bits of feathered cushiness!?
Sōhe Studio is in the business of crafting high-end decorative pillows, throws and other custom softgoods for business jets, VVIP aircraft and SFC commercial interiors. If you travel in such circles, chances are you’ve probably already seen and felt their work. But according to the company’s founder and director, Ms. Katharine Leonard, their clients aren’t really advertised. “We kind of like to ride under the radar in that sense” she says. “I've sort of always been like, we work for some great companies, but we don't really want to be constantly touting who they are.” And although it was clear in my interview with Ms. Leonard, that they’re client roster includes some of the biggest OEMs, completion centers and designers in the world, she never actually named one – and I have to say, it was refreshing.
In fact, Sōhe Studio services many other aspects of cabin amenities including CCF (crystal, china & flatware), throws, carpets, linens and more. But under a similar mindset, Ms. Leonard also refrains from pegging her company as an ‘amenities’ firm. “It’s not that we don’t do much of what amenities groups do” she says. “We just kind of like to keep our own identity, Sohe – and let it stand for what it is, however our clients want to think of us.”
And that was my chance to ask where the name came from.
“Well, I wanted to tweak our name and have meaning to it, ya know?” Our bread and butter comes from things that we sew, like to stitch, right? But I didn't want a company simply called sew - that's kind of strange, so I thought well, let’s play with the concept of the word - something that says what we do, but in a unique way. So I used the ‘sew’ part of course but with an ‘e’ on the end, all residing in a sort of phonetic dictionary context – hence the brackets and the long O. But going beyond simply what we do,” she explains, “I wanted it to carry a deeper meaning. I’ve always thought about myself and our team as sewing good deeds – something truly near and dear to me on a personal level. So there you have it,” she says. “Sohe.”
There is a decidedly design-forward look about Sōhe Studio and the products they produce. Their pillows are a good example of that. The fabrics chosen, seem to ride a balance of sophisticated and playful, a mark designers often search for in softgoods. It prompted me to ask where her inspiration comes from.
“Well, I regularly attend the design shows in Paris, always a good starting point to stay on top of what’s out there.” she points out. “But you know, we also have a lot of great design partners in Europe and so between those two things, it gives us the ability to offer something that's a little bit different - still in the beautiful luxurious class of course but not what everybody else has.”
The more I spoke with Katharine Leonard, the more Katharine Leonard became the company she owns and presides over. She has an infectious light and happiness about her. Her laughter and humor made the interview fun, but it also gave me insight into her success. She is clearly a delight to work with, and her spirit just as clearly infused in the fabrics she selects and the final products her company delivers. And that prompted me to ask how she ever got here. Her answer is not what I expected!
“I came from the financial services industry,” she announced. “Specifically banking in New York and Chicago.”
“Whaaat? Are you serious?” I asked, literally thinking it was a joke. “How does that happen!?” She grinned explaining the ‘how’ part wasn’t nearly so important as the skillsets learned.
“So, when I moved to Texas and started a high-end workroom, mostly draperies for the residential market at the time, all that closely managed detailed and data from banking served as a solid footing for keeping up with complex jobs. My approach to running a workroom, apart from quality of course, was careful and concise documentation, right from the get-go. Let's make sure all our quotes are digital, let's be sure they have the ship to address, the project due date and on down the line. That way it all flows to our internal production schedule which then flows to the invoice and oh, by the way, we're going to turnkey that bad boy so you [our customers] don't have to order the fabric and have it sitting in a closet somewhere.”
We really spent a lot of time trying to make it easy for our customers, way back at the beginning. As a designer for example, we know you have a ton of things to keep up with and you don't want to be in a situation where at the last minute you're trying to deliver a plane and the pillows are wrong - the wrong size, the quality is weird or you're missing stuff. So, we're very neurotic,” she explains, “about delivering exquisitely beautiful product of course, but just as importantly, on time, complete down to every detail, and so on. So, in this respect, we’re really delivering two things, superlative quality and peace of mind.”
Get it wrong and even the slightest miscalculations or lack of customer trials can come back to haunt you. Get it right and it’s remembered in the form of an memorable flight experience.
No, as it turns out, the company never manufactured anything during WWll. :) Wessex Switching Products Ltd was founded in 1974 and today employs more than 100 people in a state-of-the-art facility on UK legendary south coast.
In the beginning, WASP designed and manufactured a range of customized rotary switches for use in professional applications including military communications. From that expertise, they expanded their product range to include custom designed membrane switches, specialist keypads and touch screens, for use in professional applications including defense, medical, food production and more recently the aviation industry.
In this market WASP have developed products as diverse as seat numbering to complete touchscreen suite controls and innovative low power cabin lighting systems. WASP have also developed and manufactured a "virtual window" using special screens and cameras. It is significant (and noteworthy) that most of the world's leading airlines currently employ WASP products on their aircraft (across all classes) in order to provide their customers with the best possible flying experience.
WASP works closely with its customers to develop highly engineered, customized solutions to meet their specific requirements along with the quality and reliability of their products – collaborations that are key to their success. Most WASP products are 100% tested at several stages during their production cycle to ensure total quality and reliability.
WASP also offers a full Qualification and Certification service for products used in the aviation industry and is AS9100 Rev D certified.
.png)
%20copy%206.png)
Boomerang Commercial Transport - Joint collaboration: KLM / Airbus
T he business of predicting future high-end air travel between say, 2025 and 2050, actually began some years ago. So in this issue, we look back on the concepts of some of the top OEMs, Designers & Aeronautical Pontificators. Not all will get off the ground, at least in their conceptual form, but one thing's for sure . . . in order to take flight, be it interior or airframe, one first needs to flex their imagination.
Special Contributor: Melissa Tokoryama
Let's start with supersonic air travel, because, let's face it, it's moved a little beyond the concept stages at this point. The current iterations do unfortunately lose some of their unboxing luster to the fact that, well...it's kinda already been don. it debuted back in 1976, only to disappear from service less than three decades later. But there were very good reasons why the Concorde, regardless her beauty and marvel, was doomed from the get-go. Ultimately, the advent of more fuel efficient commercial jets relegated it to the history books; its economics simply no longer viable. This time around however, it'll likely be here to stay and will rise not only as a commercial platform, but as a private offering as well. Boom Aerospace, the Colorado based company we've all been hearing about since 2016, will bring the past into the future using not only advanced materials and aeronautic design, but sustainable, fuel efficient, long-term economics. Their initial offering, dubbed “Overture” will jet you from New York to London in 3 hours, 30 minutes. Tokyo to Seattle in 4:30 and whatever other city pairs your heart fancies in barely the span of an afternoon spa regimine. And it will do it all, up above the weather at the edge of the stratosphere traveling at mach 1:7. The platform is also projecting net-zero carbon by launch-date. Although not yet solidified, Overture’s interior will be a sumptuous platform for observing the curvature of the earth at altitude, through oversized oval windows and with unprecedented stillness through the air at an altitude just shy of 9 miles. Boom already has a backlog of orders from major carriers and Overture’s maiden flight is currently projected for 2026.
Copyright © 2022 Boom Supersonic.
At 60,000 ft., the earth's curvature is apparent. Sorry flat-earthers. No disc and no icy wall. Boom's large oval window's will afford spectacular views of both heaven and earth. And sitting well above the weather, you'll scarcely feel a ripple.
.
Two other major players in the supersonic race are Palo Alto based Aerion Supersonic (the AS2) and Lockheed -Martin with their entry, the X-59 QueSST. Lockheed Martin however is not technically a competing aircraft at this point - but rather is quietly working in the background on supersonic jet technology for passenger air travel,. This is being done in partnership with NASA. and, at this point at least, the program is meant to develop technology in support of future supersonic airframe builders.
Conceptual render - courtesy United Airlines
Boeing's SkyView Panoramic Window, measuring approximately 4.5 feet by 1.5 foot (1.4 x 0.5 m), is created by effectively joining three existing 737 windows together. Situated aft of the wing with multiple potential locations based on the 737 airframe, it offers customers an unparalleled perspective of the world.
In this artist's concept, it evokes the possibility of a private office desk facing directly in view of the owner or his/her guests while in flight.
The window was originally offered through GKN Aerospace’s Fokker business as a retrofit on existing BBJs, and through Boeing Business Jets as a priced feature. It was initially slated for offer on BBJ MAX airplanes starting in 2018.
Chase Lounge Vista. In this adaptation (right), the design studio of Richard Roseman Airborne Design envisions a slightly whimsical variation of the sweeping window, incorporating a chase lounge for a window-box effect - and flanked by a pair of custom Vertebrae lamps.
RRAD produced the design for CITADEL Completions in Lake Charles, LA, along with the sunset image pictured above. The window option can only occur aft of the wing and must be balanced by the same directly opposite, and occurring on the same frame station locations. Therefore the two pictured spaces reside directly across from one another.
Courtesy Citadel Completions / Design by Richard Roseman Airborne Design
But let's now jump a little further ahead to perhaps 2040-2050. In the below concept rendering, we get a look at where many of the OEMs and designers are headed. Fuselage technology and material science will soon be affording windows not unlike the ones pictured here. In this design concept created for JetModa Magazine by 3D Visualization Service in 2017, the exoskeletal structure provides a geometric architecture that enables strength along the airframe's natural longitudinal axis. But at the same time, such designs will utilize transparent 'glass-like' materials such as aluminum oxynitride, (transparent aluminum) or other carbon based composites with incomparable strength. Material science plays a hug role in the development of future airframes and the stunning possibilities they afford.
See the full Press Release here.
Bentley Bacalar
Does your company have something our readers need to know about?
%20copy.png)
JCF Magazine celebrates the Global 7000 & 8000 this month, remarkable achievements by any measurement. Watch the video and note that on top of it all, you can breathe easier with Bombardier's Pũr Air and its advanced HEPA filter technology, arrive rested and refreshed with the Soleil circadian lighting system, experience the comfort of the industry’s lowest cabin altitude, and enjoy reduced lower back pressure with the Nuage seat and zero-gravity position.
